Is your website legally compliant?

March 28, 2009
Every organisation is obliged to ensure that its website complies with what sometimes seems to be a never-ending parade of legislation and achieving compliance can be a complex and time-consuming exercise.

 

We set out below ten key issues which need to be taken into account in a website compliance exercise.

Do you have in place appropriate terms and conditions of use?

Whether your website is one-way information only, allows user-generated content or sells goods or services online you will always need to cover some core issues such as liability, intellectual property protection, term, payment, downtime and servicing as well as law and jurisdiction.

You should not put in place terms and conditions and then assume that they will automatically bind all users of your site as there is more to it than that - in order to have a binding contract, your conditions need to be properly accepted by the user. 

 Do you collect any personal data via your site and what is it used for?

Personal information can be collected about individuals for all manner of purposes - if you collect it then you may need to abide by the terms of the Data Protection Acts.

 Do you use data for email marketing?

Collecting personal information via a website often goes hand in hand with electronic marketing. Care needs to be taken to comply with the complex laws govening direct marketing when using email as a method of marketing your goods and services.

 Does your website make use of cookies (and other such tracking devices) ?

 Is so, you should ensure that your website includes a clear statement on the use of cookies (and other tracking devices). We would suggest incorporating a basic explanation of how such devices work and how the data collected will be used.

 The law in this area also states that users should be given an opportunity to refuse such devices.

Is your Intellectual Property protected?

Make sure any intellectual property rights are protected as appropriate, for example by incorporating a copyright notice and putting express restrictions on copying.

 Make use of registered trade mark symbols where authorised to do so and make sure that you have obtained all appropriate licences and consents for the use of third party material.

 Do you provide sufficient information about your organisation and its products and services?

 It is a legislative requirement that key information about your organisation and its products and services is provided.

There is a whole raft of information which should be included on your website for example, VAT details and information on pricing and delivery costs to name but a few.

 Accordingly, your website should incorporate appropriate statements to cover these issues. 

 Do your online trading terms cover all key points?

Ensure that your website incorporates online trading terms which would go beyond simply terms and conditions of use of your site - these should cover key issues such as contract formation and liability.

Again, do not just rely on putting an electronic copy of your standard trading terms online as they need to be appropriate to the online environment, for example the technical steps for formation of the contract and the ordering process as a whole need to take account of the nature of online procedures - copying and pasting a similar website’s terms and conditions onto your own won’t normally cut it!

 B2B only or B2C or a combination of both?

 Be particularly careful when dealing with consumers (Business 2 Consumer contracts) and make sure that your website complies with the raft of consumer legislation which affects this area.

 Who is your website aimed at and what services are you offering?

 The user group and the type of services you offer on your website will have an effect upon the legal regime which will apply - for example, there are specific regulations which deal with the distance marketing of financial services to customers.

 Defamation

The Electronic Commerce Act 2000 provides that “all provisions of existing defmation law shall apply to all electronic comminications within the State, including the retention of information electronically“.

 Defamation is the term given to tort of damaging another’s reputation and libel is a defmatory statement published in a permananet format (slander being the non-permananet type).

If your website posts comments online which can reasonably be construed as being defamatory then this should be examined further in order to avoid any third party claims- we believe that avoidance is usually the best answer. 

 Please contact David on dreilly@dreilly.ie for further information on this topic or any other legal problem or matter.

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We respect your right to privacy. Where personal information is submitted it will be used for the stated purpose and any reasonable incidental purposes and marketing and administration purposes only. You agree to the use, storing and processing of such information for these purposes. Any information that you provide will not be released to third parties. We retain basic statistical information on the visitors to the Site.